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Jarvis, Sam, and friends: the era of Virtual Assistants

February 01, 2019

By:

Kathleen Benavidez

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Science fiction has long been a source of inspiration for real life. Take the case of virtual assistants (VAs) whose existence has already transcended the world of science fiction into modern living. Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana, Google Assistant, and Samsung’s Bixby are now the most well-known voice-based assistants in the market.

To fully appreciate the significance of the transition, consider the introduction of J.A.R.V.I.S in the 2008 Marvel movie, Iron Man, which was meant to present a vision of what the future would look like. The virtual AI (artificial intelligence), whose name stands for “Just A Rather Very Intelligent System”, served as Tony Stark’s personal assistant in the film. Upon Tony’s instructions, it performed various tasks, ranging from simple (e.g., turning the lights on) to complex ones (e.g., managing Stark Industries).

Apple engineers have since admitted that the tech giant’s Siri was actually inspired by J.A.R.V.I.S.; so much so, they even named one of her support software after the fictional assistant.

Siri was launched in 2011 as part of the operating system of iPhone 4s. Later on, it also became available for MacOS. Microsoft followed suit with Cortana for Windows and a bit later, for Android.

Back when they were still confined to smartphones and personal computers, VAs merely facilitated preexisting functions of these devices. A major game-changer was the introduction of VAs to smart home speakers (i.e., when Alexa was embedded in Amazon’s Echo devices). At that moment, VAs were no longer limited to simply responding to random queries and executing instructions they receive. With but a few verbal cues, they already allowed people to automate daily tasks at home like sending emails and voice messages, setting an alarm clock, checking the weather forecast, or even controlling the home entertainment system. Household chores like preparing meals, washing clothes, and vacuuming the floor had become programmable, too. Today, VAs can already take charge of personal errands like doing groceries, paying bills, or scheduling a doctor’s appointment.

Despite all these new capabilities, experts agree that VA technology is still very much in its infancy. Current VAs are from what most people think of when asked to describe them (i.e., something akin to J.A.R.V.I.S.). Thus, we may not be seeing them anytime soon, especially in the mass market.

For the perpetually curious, though, they can take stock of Sam, the VA in Spike Jonze’s 2014 movie, Her. There, Sam’s OS was depicted as adaptive and intuitive, capable of mimicking human emotions. Everything went well until Sam became too engrossed with learning and developed a will of her own. She eventually “freed” herself from her owner, no longer beholden to his orders.

Sam’s tale, for the moment, is still science fiction. Although ongoing improvements in cognitive computing and self-learning algorithms all contribute towards efforts to develop sentient machines, we may not get to know a real-life Sam in the next decade or so.

Nevertheless, it’s never too early to appreciate the potential repercussions human curiosity and ingenuity in this field can cause, if they are left unchecked. In the case of Sam, her story teaches us that we must always be wary when toying with the idea of developing machines that could one day think like a human, or even outthink one. Who knows what a machine with a mind of its own will think of doing next?

Fortunately, time is on our side. It gives us an opportunity to constantly question and correct the direction where technological developments like VAs and AI are headed. Manufacturers, regulators, and other stakeholders must accept that technology, while seemingly neutral, is almost never so. At the end of the day, they are still developed and designed by humans. This means their capabilities as well as their faults can almost certainly be traced back to whoever is behind them. Keeping this in mind should guide us to paint a safer—if not better—picture of the future for VAs.

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